“Forever chemicals” and how they impact public health will be the focus of a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing scheduled for this week.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), chair of the Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee, will hold the hearing Thursday on PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
A spokesperson for Merkley said the hearing will focus on “general population exposures, the state of the science on health effects, and how we can protect people and communities from additional exposures.”
The hearing comes on the tail-end of President Joe Biden’s aggressive, three-year, multi-agency PFAS crackdown. Those efforts have resulted in historic drinking water limits for six PFAS, “hazardous substance” designations for two PFAS under the Superfund law, increased monitoring and other regulations intent on reining in uses.
